Commissioners pass preliminary 2014 budget by 2 to 1 vote
By Bob Robinson 

GREENVILLE – Darke County Commissioners passed its “preliminary” budget on July 10 by a vote of two to one with Commissioner Diane Delaplane casting the negative vote. 

“I don’t believe in passing a budget in the red,” she said during the Public Attendee comments. She cast the lone negative vote in 2012 as well. 

The budget submitted by Darke County Auditor Carol Ginn showed an estimated revenue of $16,012,369.79 with estimated expenses of $16,589,885.50, leaving a deficit of $577,515.71. 

The two major unknowns are the casino funds, which continue to decline due to the new “racinos,” and sales tax revenues. Darke County Commissioner Mike Stegall said it doesn’t make much sense to rely on state local monies; they never turn out to be as estimated. 

Ginn said sales tax revenues seem to be continuing as predicted, adding that she believes the estimate to be realistic. 

Stegall added the imbalance was primarily due to law enforcement. He said the commissioners would have to sit down with Sheriff Toby Spencer and discern the difference between “need” and “want.” 

“We told everybody to hold the line and they did. Law enforcement has different needs.” 

Commissioner Mike Rhoades said when Toby submitted the budget he did say this was what he would like to have. “It’s open to negotiation,” he said. 

“This is nothing more than a wish list,” Rhoades added. “We won’t know what we have until the end of the year. It’s just a formality.” 

The final 2014 budget won’t be passed until December. 

Following the meeting Rhoades referred to the midterm budget process as a “waste of time.” 

“We get monthly reports from all the departments. It’s our job to read them.” He said they will know if there’s a problem; they don’t need a midterm budget to tell them. 

Delaplane however referred to the budget as a “useful” formality. While she officially moved to accept the 2014 Budget, as presented by the Darke County Auditor, she didn’t have to vote for it. 

Ginn also noted in her letter to the Commissioners, the Darke County Wagner Avenue facility’s total debt will be $6,459,264.37 as of Dec. 31. Principal and interest due in 2014 will be $541,107.52. 

“The County General Fund will need to continue to help support this facility,” she said. 

This will be the second year the county has had to use General Funds to help support the facility, said Rhoades. Prior to that, the bonds had been ‘rolled over’ each year with no General Funds required. 

“Two years ago, we passed a resolution that the bond payments had to be made,” Rhoades added. He noted that while the facility has not actually paid for itself, it saves the county from paying rent in four different offices, including Job & Family and Veterans Services, as it had in the past. It may have also been a factor in keeping the Edison campus in Greenville. 

In other business Commissioners approved a resolution request from the Darke County Treasurer’s Office to solicit bids for public depositories. 

The County Treasurer noted that there are two types of deposits: active and inactive. An estimated $35M in active deposits will be sufficient to meet the needs of the coming contract period of Oct. 30, 2013 through Oct. 30, 2017. There will also be an estimated $35M to cover inactive deposits of Darke County for the same period, making a total of $70M in public funds that might be available for deposit in active or inactive funds. 

Published courtesy of The Early Bird